Anne-Marie Lizin

Anne-Marie Lizin-Vanderspeeten (5 January 1949 – 17 October 2015) was a Belgian politician, who served as the President of the Senate of Belgium from 2004 to 2007.

Anne-Marie Lizin
United Nations Independent Expert on extreme poverty and human rights
In office
1998–2004
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byArjun Kumar Sengupta
President of the Senate
In office
20 July 2004 – 12 July 2007
Preceded byArmand De Decker
Succeeded byArmand De Decker
Personal details
Born
Anne-Marie Vanderspeeten

(1949-01-05)5 January 1949
Huy, Belgium
Died17 October 2015(2015-10-17) (aged 66)
Huy, Belgium
Political partySocialist Party
Spouse
Michel Lizin
​
(m. 1971)​
Alma materUniversity of Liège
WebsiteOfficial website

Political career

Her career in politics began as a member of the city council of Ben-Ahin from 1970–76. She served on the city council of Huy in 1977 and was an alderman for Huy from 1980–82. In 1983, she was appointed mayor of Huy, holding this position for 26 years. In March 2009 she was forced to resign because of a series of scandals. She was succeeded by Micheline Toussaint.[1]

In 1979, Lizin was elected as an elected Member of the European Parliament. In 1988, she was elected into the Belgian government, and served in office for eight years. During her first term, she was appointed as Secretary of State for European Affairs, yet she decided to leave this role in 1992 to initiate the Commission of Inquiry on human trafficking. In 2003, she became President of the Commission for External Relations and Defence of the Belgian Senate; In 2004, she was appointed President of the Senate of Belgium, before finally becoming Senator in July 2007. She was the first female President of the Belgian Senate (2004–07). On 27 January 2009 she was banned from the Socialist party after a corruption case. Outside of her career in Belgian politics, Lizin was the United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty from 1998 to 2004.[2]

Court trial

In March 2015 she was convicted in appeals court in Liège for electoral malpractice.[3] She had appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court.[4]

Philanthropy
Anne-Marie Lizin (top row, third from left) with the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children

Lizin was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), a global nonprofit organization that combats child sexual exploitation, child pornography, and child abduction.[5]

In 2008, she created the organisation HOCRINT, an international co-ordination network that fight against honor crimes and forced marriages. She played an active role for the End Human Trafficking Now (EHTN) organisation, in which she sat on the board till her death.[6][7]

Publications

During her time in politics, Lizin released many publications, her most famous include, Women of Europe and the Third World, what solidarity? (1983) Social Democracy Tomorrow (1990) and Kosovo Independence Inevitable (1997).

Political interests

Lizin was widely acclaimed for her devotion to tackling human rights issues. Of particular importance to her were the rights of women across the globe and the need to eradicate human trafficking.

Death

Lizin was hospitalized in Paris on 7 October 2015.[8] A few days after being released from hospital in Paris, she died in Hotel Fort at Huy in Belgium on 17 October 2015 at the age of 66.[9]

Honours

References
  1. "Micheline Toussaint succède à Anne-Marie Lizin au poste..." lavenir.net. Actu24.be. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  2. "Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  3. GNRD-topp dømt for valgjuks
  4. GNRD's 'High Commissioner' sentenced Archived 10 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. al-bab.com
  5. "ICMEC Board Members". icmec.org. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  6. "Anne-Marie Lizin dépose plainte contre Micheline Toussaint" (in French). La Libre.be. 19 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  7. "Le différend Lizin-Toussaint réglé sur auto-tamponneuses?" (in French). 7sur7.BE. 19 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  8. Anne-Marie Lizin est décédée (in French)
  9. Anne-Marie Lizin overleden (in Dutch)
  10. "Anne-Marie Lizin".
  11. "Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 18 października 2004 r. O nadaniu orderów".
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